There's a reason why people watch shows like ER, House and Gray's Anatomy. I think everyone has an almost bizarre attraction to all things medical. It is intriguing, exciting and often full of mystery. So it’s with great pleasure that Atlus brought to the DS what is not only the best original use of the DS as a platform, but also a solid game, top to bottom, that makes owning a DS worth while. This proves Nintendo's vision and captures the medical field in a slightly fictionalized, but highly entertaining world.

Gameplay:
You play as the young, inexperienced Dr. Derek Stiles when he starts his surgeon journeys at Hope Hospital. Things start out fairly normally but before long you'll be fighting off mass epidemics caused by bio-terrorists. Oh yes, the plot is pretty exciting and exotic, to say the least, for a simulation game. But I never like to ruin the plot so I’ll stop there, but I will say it has pretty good writing and certainly doesn't drag the game down any. What I will gush about is its gameplay. I played Operation as a kid, and I bet you did at least once too. And Trauma Center is kind of like that, only way better.

Basically your stylus is whatever tool you’re using. To cut, you pick the scalpel and cut where shown by drawing a line on the touch screen. To disinfect, you pick the disinfectant cream and apply by rubbing the touch screen over the area and so forth. But it’s not that simple, because the game is really good at taking that simple idea and running with it. This leads to complex surgeries, the latter being quite unforgiving. But who cares, it’s fun and thrilling the whole time.

Controls:
A game like this can be made great, or completely ruined by its controls. Thankfully, Trauma Center is made really well. Acting out the moves on the patients is fun, easy, straightforward and responsive. I did find the detection on zooming in slightly annoying but quickly mastered that by drawing a C rather then a poorly drawn circle.

Graphics:
While telling the story, you’re treated to pre-rendered backgrounds and colorful anime-styled character art which match the dialog’s tone, all of which is finely done and doesn't look cheap or poorly drawn. I'm going to nitpick and point out, however, that it’s not animated but just still images. Having played Phoenix Wright, which featured animated profiles, I can attest to just how much of a presentation impact this makes. It really makes a game’s story pop-out and it’s something I'd like to see in any sequels.

While actually in surgery you’re presented with a well laid out side bar featuring simple icons representing the tools you use, on each side of the screen. The tools themselves are simple 2D affairs. The patients and the organs are both rendered in fairly realistic 3D which all animate naturally. And its not gory, which is a plus really; I didn't want to see a mistake of mine bathe the touch screen in slow-to-disappear blood. And the 2D lovin' continues as any change to the organs themselves, like incisions, shrapnel and d is all done with 2D textures placed on the 3D organs. Since the colors don't pop, and match well to their surroundings; it’s all believable looking.

Sound:
The great thing about Trauma Center's music is that it is perfectly matched to the on-screen events, even while you’re in surgery. So if something freaky happens you'll be breaking a sweat as the music gets more intense and picks up speed. It would have been nice if there was a little more variety, but what is here isn't repetitive in a negative way so it’s never bothersome for that reason, although I sometimes turned it off because it was actually making me more nervous that I was about to kill my patient! hahaha

The sound effects are modest and voice acting really non-existent except for a few infrequently repeated phrases from your nurse Angie. There is a heart monitor always beeping, which combined with the music really add to the effect of being in a life or death situation.

Replay:
It’s not hard for me to say that you'll want to come back again and again to play the game once you pick it up. Its gameplay is highly addictive and the game itself is packed full of over 35 missions! not even counting the time you'll spend replaying a mission until you beat it. It’s not a cake walk, and you'll be more then satisfyingly stuffed with gaming goodness. And for those willing to tough it out to beat the game, you'll be treated to almost 2 handfuls of bonus missions! 2 of which require all S rankings. Ouch!

Trauma Center is a ground breaking DS game. It not only introduces the world to a new gaming sub-genre, the doctor sim, but also it completely validates the existence of the DS's touch screen with highly entertaining gameplay which is made better with its use, rather then just a different take on controls that could appear on the GBA or PSP using a D-pad and buttons just fine. Bravo, Atlus, bravo.

Scores:
Gameplay: 9/10
Controls: 8.5/10
Graphics: 8/10
Sound: 7.0/10
Replay: 7.0/10